Teen Wakes From Coma When Family Sings Hymns

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Teen Wakes From Coma When Family Sings Hymns

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Teen Wakes From Coma When Family Sings Hymns

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Teen Wakes From Coma When Family Sings Hymns

A college student who reportedly went into a coma after being struck by a car last week woke up after her family and friends started singing hymns by her hospital bedside, and her mom is calling it "an amazing miracle."

Lexi Hansen, 18, a freshman at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, was heading to class and crossing the street near campus on a long board on Feb. 26 when she was hit by a car and suffered a brain injury.

In a Thursday evening interview with ABC News, Marcia Hansen, the teen's mother, said tests indicated her daughter had essentially been brain-dead when she was brought to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo.

Even though the girl had occasionally partially opened an eye, doctors said they weren't sure she was conscious of it, but that changed on Sunday. After a day of fasting involving the family and tens of thousands of neighborhood friends and fellow members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Hansen opened her eyes and signaled to her family as they sang hymns by her beside in the hospital's intensive care unit.

"She woke up and just listened to us and we were just amazed and crying just at the fact that she was (awake)," the girl's mother said. "And then she just hand signed 'I Iove you' …. and then we were just crying that she would even know what was going on."

"She reached out her hand to each of us then we started to leave, because we're not all supposed to be in that room, and she started to wave to us," Marcia Hansen added. "It was very weak but it was the most - actually it was like a big window washing wave. It was just amazing."

Hospital spokeswoman said Janet Frank said Hansen was in serious condition on Thursday night, a slight upgrade from when she was first admitted in critical condition.

Citing patient privacy requirements, Frank said she could not confirm whether Hansen had been in a coma.

Marcia Hansen said her daughter's improvement has far exceeded her doctor's expectations.

"We know that it was a miracle. We absolutely know that. We know that God's hand was in it," she said, adding that her daughter's doctors were amazed. "They tell us all the time she's a miracle and 'you have a higher power working for you because she shouldn't be here.' She had zero percent chance of making it when she came in and then 1 percent. They weren't even going to stitch up her face."

Hansen said doctors didn't know for sure how her daughter's recovery will progress, but said she will be going to rehab soon.

"You know, the long-term nobody knows but everybody is just extremely positive. I just think the sky is the limit with this girl. I just think it's going to be fine," she said.

Lexi Hansen, one of nine siblings, is a communications major at BYU. She wants to be a motivational speaker.

Provo Police Lt. Mathew Siufanua told ABC News that incident was "a tragic accident," adding that police believe that Hansen, who was not wearing a helmet, was trying to cross the street quickly in front of an oncoming car.

"We think that she was trying to beat the car and started out in traffic when she was hit," Siufanua said.